they say not yet a done deal. hamas is trying to push this forward. what do we know? >> well i think they're pretty close right now. i know that the egyptian president, mohamed morsi, very much involved. he's got good relations with hamas, israelis have a relationship, i don't know how good it is, but they have a relationship with the egyptians. there have been israeli envoys that have gone to cairo to meet with high-ranking egyptian officials. trying to broker a deal. no trust, hamas has to trust for the israelis and israelis have no trust for the hamas. there have been a lot of rockets and missiles coming from gaza into israeli and the israeli air strikes pounded away at targets in garz. a lot of casualties. there's no goodwill on the part of either of these, they don't trust each other. having said that, looks like they're close. hamas seems to think within the next hour or two some agreement will be announced, thanks to the egyptians. but i spoke with the israeli

government spokesman for the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu in the past hour, he said there's no deal yet. he didn't rule out there wouldn't be a deal but he said there's no deal yet. until all of the is are dotted, t richardson cros are crossed. until there's a deal, there's no deal, as they like to say, the diplomatic community. >> we also know the president, president obama, has called and talked to the president of egypt, morsi, three times now in the last 24 hours. really trying to put a u.s. stamp, footprint, if you will, on the negotiations. how much leverage does the u.s. have in actually making sure that the cease-fire is something that's going to hold? >> well the u.s. doesn't have much leverage over hamas because the u.s. doesn't deal with hamas. the u.s. government, previous governments, regards hamas as a terrorist organization. when secretary of state hillary clinton visits here in jerusalem

later, then goes to ramallah to meet with mahmoud abbas tomorrow and then goes to cairo she's not going to meet with anyone from hamas. the u.s. does have leverage on egypt, given the economic and military assistance the u.s. provides to egypt and given the dire economic straits that the egyptians are in right now. so the u.s. has leverage on the egyptians and obviously the u.s. has very good relations with israel. so the u.s. is a key player in all of this. but as far as leverage on hamas, u.s. leverage is limited. >> secretary of state hillary clinton's arriving soon in jerusalem about three hours or so from now. she'll go to ramallah, then on to cairo. why would she be meeting with the president of the palestinian authority, mahmoud abbas? he has nothing to do with what is taking place in hamas and is this really something that is more symbolic here? >> there's a lot of symbol itch

because the u.s. has a lot at stake in the palestinian authority leadership of abbas and the prime minister. the u.s. has had very good relations with the palestinian leader whose believe in a two-state solution. israel and palestine. there's a very good relationship there and the u.s. provides extensive economic assistance to the palestinian authority on the west bank. but you know what? the problem for the palestinian authority is, in recent days, as hamas has engaged in this continuing struggle with israel, its reputation, at least in the palestinian community and i dare venture in the arab world, much of the muslim world, has gone up at the extension of the palestinian authority and that's probably going to be a problem down the road unless hamas was to significantly change its views, accept conditions that would result in u.s. dealings with hamas, israel and israel's right to exist and stop the

violence. under those circumstances the situation would change dramatically. so far hamas has been unwilling to do that. as a result the u.s., european unions and others refused to deal directly with hamas. >> wolf, you've been covering the region for a long time here. tell us what happen. you've got talks that are going on when it comes to the truce, the cease-fire. but then you have the quartet, tony blair and the quartet involved in peace negotiations that have gone nowhere. where does that stand? >> you know that quartet, the u.s., u.n., european union, russia, i met with tony blair yesterday here in jerusalem, and that peace process hadn't effect live gone anywhere since 2008. it's really been mired in a total collapse and a total mess. i'm not suggesting there's no hope it can be revived. it's going to take a lot of goodwill, maybe out of the crisis in gaza something

positive can emerge, we shall see. there is no peace process for any practical purposes. george mitchell gave up 18 months or so ago when he dropped out of the obama administration, there hasn't been much. let's see what hillary clinton secretary of state can do when she meets with prime minister netanyahu and then meets with abbas and then talks with morsi. for all practical purposes for now that peace process is dormant. >> all right. wolf, thanks. we'll get back to you as soon as there's breaking news, obviously, if there's a deal or truce that comes out of it in the next couple of hour. israel says the talks are still going on. hamas is telling reuter they've reached an agreement with the israelis they'll end the fighting. you've got breaking news on the talks. >> it's one more piece of the puzzle because as you mentioned over the last several hours

hamas told reuters a cease-fire deal has been agreed to but israelis are denying this, saying negotiations are ongoing. a source in jerusalem is telling me that the israelis are floating an idea there should be 24 hours of calm before they agree to sign on to any deal. so the difference between a cease-fire and a cease-fire agreement is you stop shooting for 24 hours and then perhaps sign on the dotted line and agree to a deal. how long lasting is an open question. this is a new element they are requesting 24 hours of calm from gaza from hamas militants before they agree to any kind of deal. the other thing that we're getting that is 1:30 p.m. eastern, about an hour and a half from now, we understand israeli cabinet ministers will be meeting in order to discuss the various proposals that have been floated out there regarding an agreement to a possible cease-fire between the two sides. >> you have people in cairo, trying to work out this deal. you've got qatar, you've got turkey, egypt, hamas, who is the

most val. >> player? who is running the show? >> right now, very crucially, of course you have egypt because the israelis don't talk to hamas, the u.s. don't talk to hamas, egypt is the mediator between the two sides. any deal is going to have to go through them. so you heard mohamed morsi a few hours ago saying we're hours away from a cease-fire. when mohamed morsi says that you understand he has information, of course, coming from negotiators and mediators in cairo. right now it seems though, as the discussion has moved to israel and israeli ministers debating the possibility of agreeing to proposals that have been tabled and floated including perhaps the 24-hour calm, the lull in fighting, that they would require before they sign on to anything. >> so when would this take place? when would the timetable be? talking about 24 hours, you almost wonder where does the clock start on the 24-hour timetable? >> absolutely. always a difficult one.

what do you mean by calm? an absolute total cessation of violence? is it a lull? is it calmer than it was a few hours ago those are questions out there. but what it does tell me, though, is that the discussions are close to achieving some sort of deal because when you have that kind of specificity discussed, it means that at some stage, hopefully the next 24 hours, we'll hear something, some agreement, announcedle. weep have to wait and see. >> a near source, a source you're talking to, and the negotiations here, why do they believe hamas was floating it out there, we've got a done deal? was that meant to promote, push this forward a little bit? >> that's not something that i discussed with this particular individual but it is not unreasonable to think that this of course is not just a question of behind closed doors. what you tell the press, journalists what pushes the story and the ball forward for people to look into the possibility of a cease-fire agreement. what we're hearing from all sighs is that it appears we're closer today than we were

yesterday. >> thank you very much. excellent reporting. rocket attacks killing three, wounding dozens. 114 palestinians killed more than 900 wounded in gaza. i want to go to ben wedeman in gaza city. you've got more details on the cease-fire. what do we know? >> reporter: yeah, suzanne i just got off the phone with a senior hamas official privy to details of the contacts that have been going on between hamas, egypt, and israel. he tells me that at 9:00 this evening in cairo, that's less than two hours from now, a -- an announcement will be made by an egyptian official and the hamas movement that fighting will cease. they are calling it a calming down. it's not a cease-fire, it's not a truce, but his indication is that the fighting will stop when that announcement is made.

>> when do we think that announcement is going to be made? give us the time again. >> reporter: it's 9:00 cairo time. that's 2:00 p.m. eastern time. >> and describe for us, explain what you mean this is not a cease-fire, it's a calming down. what would that look like on the ground? >> reporter: well basically it would mean a cessation of military activities, rockets going out of here, israel doing air strikes and other attacks on gaza. we've seen this before. back in 2008, in june, the israelis and hamas with egyptian intermediaries did work out a similar arrangement. six months and by and large, it lasted six months until, of course, just right before israel launched its so-called cast led operation, that obviously truce break, that calming period broke down. but they have that example. so we don't know the details in

terms of what each side is obliged to do and not to do, how long this period is going to last. but it would essentially entail an end to any military activities from both sides. >> it's very early to really get a sense of how people react to this. but a couple of questions here. first, does anyone believe this would actually -- there would be this calm? do they have faith this is something, good faith they will carry out when you say they're going to make the announcement in two hours? >> reporter: well, certainly the hope is here that they will be able to carry out, there will indeed be a period of calm. obviously life has been very difficult here in gaza since last wednesday. and not as if everybody in gaza is cheering every time a missile gets fired out of the here. as a matter of fact, most people are running for cover out of fear that israel will quickly

respond. and speaking to people in gaza, they were encouraged. they were hopeful that this will indeed take hold. suzanne? >> ben, we'll be awaiting that announcement, expect it to happen in a couple of hours. a cease-fire might be in the work. some think hamas may be the real winner in the conflict. might be a huge boost in popularity in gaza. who's who in the complex and volatile situation. ♪ and feel like a green giant. ♪ ho ho ho ♪ green giant ho ho ho when you take a closer look... ...at the best schools in the world...

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so i brought it to mike at meineke. we gave her car a free road handling check. i like free. free is good. my money. my choice. my meineke. ongoing strikes underscore how complex the situation is. hamas ruling gaza, palestinian authority in power in the west bank, you've got israel sitting in the middle of the two palestinian territories. well, michael holmes here to explain some of this. i think it's viewers, it's helpful to remind them. you have two different sections and you've got hamas that essentially it's not the palestinian authority but hamas responsible for the back and forth with israel and rockets. >> they won the election back in 2006, kicked out fatah, the

palestinian authority party in 2007 in a bloody way and ruled the gaza strip ever since. ite ronnie on the west wabank, with abbas, you have a moderate palestinian leader ever in the history of the palestinian cause. and he's essentially sidelined by wall of this. he's irrelevant. he's not involved in the discussions, no power. palestinians are looking for leadership essentially. they're not seeing it from the palestinian authority. and i'm not talking about just the wall that's happened, expansion of settlements but things like a moral bound economy. and hamas is seen as doing something, whether challenging status quo, getting hundreds of palestinian prisoners released through the swap and what's worrying is you're seeing growing support on the street for hamas in the west bank. now, that could be problematic if it continues to grow. but at the end of the day, hamas can't do a deal on a palestinian state.

they object to the existence of israel. that ain't happening. only the palestinian authority can do that. >> hamas, you have the one negotiating for this cease-fire if you will. can he negotiate anything else because he doesn't negotiate for a palestinian estate, he says, look we're going to stop violence. where do we go from here? does he have more power? >> he's got leverage. >> for what? >> well, leverage in a political sense. hamas, if the deal is done, the truce, hamas can leave and say we won. you know, that's what they want to say politically they won, we stood up, defied, we got some sort of concessions, depending what comes out in the truce. they have political leverage for now. now whether that's a lasting thing in terms of the overall peace process if we call it that, whatever is left of it, yet is yet to be seen. whether that's a lasting influence. they run the gaza strip. it's like two countries, gaza and the west bank. >> tell us about hamas because it's considered a terrorist

organization by the u.s. state department, they don't recognize israel, state of israel. but it's a very powerful, military component and the social component. >> it's important to recognize there are multiple facets of hamas. born in the 1980s, came out of the muslim brotherhood where you see other alliances developing with other countries and you mentioned because they're born of the muslim brotherhood as well. born as a resistance movement but quickly realized that provide for the people would win the hearts and minds. and so yes you have the political wing, military wing, and the social wing, runs schools, hospitals, and they get the grassroots support, mainly from that side of things. >> what does it mean? you've got the cease-fire that happens. if there is in fact a time of calm here, what is the outcome of all of this? i mean, does hamas stay where it is or do they grow, do they become more powerful? who are losers and who are the

winners? >> the pessimist in me, i said last time, i predicted they would come to a truce before a ground engagement happened and everyone will go away claiming they won and we go back to the same uncomfortable status quo, and unsatisfactory status quo which probably is going to happen. what hamas wants to do is get the economic blockade of gaza. israelis pulled oust gaza, set alreadies left, absolutely true. but palestinian fisherman can't go more than two miles off the coast, they don't control the airspace or the goods and services that's what hamas is trying to broker in the truce, to get some sort of something in return that's going to help economically. >> are they more likely to get it this go rornd because they're more powerful? you have a friend in egypt, morsi in power? >> i don't know. we have to wait and see. i have doubts because israel is just as strong and they have their own position on the rockets and whether they're going to put up with giving concessions to a group like

hamas that denies their existence, i don't know. i don't know that that will happen. the other thing, too, particularly americans don't realize how tiny this place is. this is a sliver of land that's 30 miles between 6 and 10 miles wide. >> the size of washington. >> and 1.7 million people. it's a hotbed of emotion, that's for sure. >> and certainly though it has capability of sparking many come flicks in the region. michael, we'll get back to you. have to let you go for a minute. following this. hamas says fighting will stop, at least temporarily, they'll make an announcement 2:00 p.m. eastern according to reporters on the ground. however, there are rockets, they are still flying on both sides of the israeli/gaza border. we'll go to -- go live right after a quick break. [ man ] in hong kong, on my way to the board meeting...

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tracking the conflicting reports about a cease-fire in the middle east, the attacks are still going on both sides of the israeli/gaza border. reporters cov offing all angles. sara sidner is in jerusalem by

phone. we found out two things recently here. first, israel's requesting 24 hours of what they're calling calm and about two hours we'll expect to hear from hamas official saying that this calming period will be granted. so they can have some sort of truce between two sides. what are people on the ground in jerusalem believe is going to happen? do they have any faith here? are there still attacks going on? >> reporter: yeah, there's a lot of concern. what everybody's hoping for is that what is agreed to actually happens so if there is a 24-hour period of calm, that that happens and then some kind of a cease-fire deal or a truce deal can be worked out. with the 24-hour period there's concern things will ratchet up again. we know that ban ki-moon came, the u.n. secretary-general and came to jerusalem to speak with different leaders here. he spoke with the prime minister

saying that while israel had every right to defend itself it should exercise caution and that going into a ground war would be devastating for the civilians. so cautioning against that. israel saying they want to see calm, they want things to calm down but if they keep getting attacked by rockets sent from gaza they will do what they need to do to protect their citizens. we just came back from a neighborhood here in israel where we saw homes that were damaged, one in particular, a 21-year-old girl inside when it happened ran into an area where they built some of the new homes with bomb shelters in them because they -- the sirens so often, they have had to run for cover so many times and you know sh she's just beside herself with fear not safe in her own home. also on the gaza side of the border for five, six days where we saw just immense destruction from the israeli air strike but was we also saw in neighborhoods

rockets being sent from neighborhoods in gaza to israel. and those are the areas where the israeli military's targeting, trying to get rid of areas where there are rocket launchers. gaza's a small place, that there are very few places where they can hide these things and at times putting them right in neighborhoods where there's a lot 0 people living and some of them have died, many injured. >> describe for us, if you will is there a sense of hope of optimism, or people in a state of fear they don't really believe things are going to get better? what do you think? >> reporter: i don't know -- optimism might be a strong word. people are feeling they want this to end for good. they're tired of the back and forth. tired of every few years having this conflict flare up and being caught in the middle of it especially people who live in the southern part of israel that have to deal with it and those who live in gaza, civilians who

live with this and deal with consequences of what happens when rockets are sent over to israel and israel responds and they get caught in the middle of it all. there's a real sense people want this to end for good, some permanent solution. but in the interim, they'll take anything right now to stop feeling that terror that there's going to be a rocket hitting their house or killing them or their children or on the converse side, you know an air strike that hits a building that kills or injures people in gaza. it's a sense of they just want things to start working out and for a cease-fire to be worked out but they really want a permanent solution. >> sara sidner, thank you very much. we'll be getting back to you. this will be hardly the first cease-fire that we've seen between israel and hamas. so what does it mean? is it actually going to happen? how long can it last without real change in the region? we'll take you deeper inside the conflict that is rocking the middle east. a re bnot breaking down.

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just a short time ago, hamas announced an agreement it a cease-fire with israel. israel says there's no deal reached yet. people on both sides want the violence to end. an israeli strike in gaza, officials say four members of one family died. and this is a seen from israel, houses reduced to rubble by hamas rockets. joining us, nick burns, undersecretary of state for political affairs under the bush administration. also served as america consulate general in the '80s. i want to make sense of all of this. late breaking news, one side

israel saying they want this period of calm. you have hamas that says okay, we can make this happen, perhaps we'll announce something like that in a couple of hours. how confident are you that this is actually going to be something that is real? that has been brokered and and it will be held to? >> well, suzanne, it's at least a glimmer of hope after five very, very tragic days. and i think there's some advantages to the so-called period of calm. if in fact both sides effectively stand down for a period of 24 hours, first, it relieves suffering of the palestinian civilian population in gaza which has been considerable. you've seen that on cnn. and also relieves suffering of the israeli population. second, it does give the israelis an opportunity to see if hamas is credible. if hamas will meet the test of a calm period and in effect hold to a cease-fire and not fire

rockets into israel proper much less to a place like jerusalem where hamas tried to attack today. third, it gives secretary clinton time to fly from cambodia, as she's doing now, and to arrive on scene and it may be at secretary clinton will really be the glue that holds this altogether and her presence, especially with the israelis, might give them the confidence to proceed with a formal cease-fire. >> how so? she's meeting with the palestinian authority president abbas, who has nothing to do with hamas, has nothing to do with the gaza strip. and to some people, the west bank, has lost a lot of credibility over the years. >> well, she'll also be meeting with prime minister netanyahu, and he'll be meeting with mohamed morsi of egypt. morsi the key mediator, trying to bring the cease-fire together. of course the israelis need to be convinced that after several months of rocket fire into israel and very intense series of rocket attacks over the last

five district attorneys, that hamas is serious. i think that secretary clinton is in a position here to provide badly needed american leadership. >> what leverage does she have here? we know that about $2 billion or so in aid to egypt is very significant. does she have more leverage than just with the purse? >> well, i think the united states has considerable leverage in the middle east and particularly towards egypt. egypt's in a difficult position. you've seen the statements of president morsi. they've been very one-sided his public statements. they've not at all admitted that hamas started this fight and hamas started it, they've been very pro-hamas. but in the end it's in the interest of egypt to see a cease-fire and not to see its relationship with the united states, with europe, with the international financial institutions impaired. that's leverage. certainly i think the israeli government, i'm sure it appreciates the solid support of the united states, of president obama, over the last week for

the base sick right of israel to defend itself over the cynical use of power, air power attack business hamas itself. i think the united states is in a position here to play a key role. of course the u.n. secretary-general is there. but let's face it, in the end it's the united states that has the relationships in that part of the world to bring about this kind of cease-fire. >> but, nick, does it make it difficult this go round because you have somebody like morsi of the muslim brotherhood who is aligned with hamas they have a closer relationship, we've seen that support, just didn't have that before with mubarak? >> you didn't, but in an interesting, ironic sort of way morsi, president morsi has influence with hamas and there are lots of issues that need to be decided now. tunnels between gaza and egypt sinai desert need to be shut down. i think it's clearly in the interest of the egyptians to bring this fight to a close. it may be that president mohamed morsi formerly of the muslim brotherhood would have much

greater influence than president mubarak had. >> what happened to the middle east talks, the quartet? we saw recently tony blair leading it, wolf blitzer talking to him yesterday. it doesn't seem as if this attempt to get the two sides together has really amounted to very much. >> very little has been produced. there are fundamental divisions in each side especially, and you alluded to this, the division in the palestinian side between hamas and gaza. and the palestinian authority and the west bank. unless that division is repaired in some way, it's going to be very difficult to make meaningful progress. but certainly given what we've seen and the tragedy of the last week, it really is incumbent upon everyone to try to go back to the drawing board and see how these two party can come together at least start talking and stop fighting. >> nick burns, thank you very much. when hamas launches a rocket israeli iphones they start to buzz. that is right. there's a new app that could be saving lives. we're sitting on a bunch of shale gas.

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a cease-fire might be coming but the rockets are still flying from both sides for israelis in the most vulnerable areas a few seconds extra warning can make a difference between life and death. now there's an app to actually help buy those precious seconds. fred planken shows us how this works. >> reporter: when rockets from gaza come flying towards israeli towns, time is of the essence. people have to run for cover and this new app can buy them a few additional seconds. it's called color red, and sends out an alert when a rocket alarm goes off. believe it or not the idea for the color red app comes from a 13-year-old. the iran leaves in a town near the gaza border that is often targeted by rockets.

there are people that need to know what is happening and the regular services don't help them enough. so i wanted to be the one who gave them the right information he tells me and just then, another alarm goes off. israel has a sophisticated warning system for impending rocket strikes. with sirens alerting citizens to take cover. but people inside their homes or office buildings don't always hear the sirens. we got caught up in several rocket alerts while shooting the story. we have to get under shelter now because there's another air siren alarm here. but thanks to the new app some people at least have a little bit more time to get to shelter because they get the alerts quickly. let's go. the app created by an application developer is free. seems to work so well, it's been downloaded for than 130,000 times since the conflict began. how many friends have this as well? >> all. all. soldiers, the police, too.

all. >> reporter: israel's government even sent out a notice urging news people to download the color red app. the army says any application that warns people of rocket strikes helps in the effort to keep citizens safe. >> the time that people have here to run to shelters is between 15 and 50 seconds. any mobile device that can help, i think it's a good solution. >> reporter: and leon says he thought up the application in his little room at his parents' home. i'm very proud of myself, he says, a very small thing that i did is doing a great thing for the people in the south of the country. >> reporter: liron spends a lot of time updating the color red facebook. he's got plenty of time. his school is closed because of the ongoing rocket attacks. >> so, fred, i guess the obvious and first question is, this is something that is available to the israelis and not necessarily the palestinians? is that correct? >> reporter: no, you're

absolutely right. it's only something available here. you don't have alerts that get sent out in the palestinian territory. only available here. i have to tell you i also had trouble trying to download it as well. i didn't make that because i actually couldn't get into the israeli itunes store and then the other problem is, it's also only in hebrew. for us it's quite difficult to get our hands on this. however, if you talk to people here, almost everyone that i've seen has it. certainly everybody who has got an iphone, people who have android phones as well. it's something making a difference a lot of people are downloading here. >> does it actually save time? you say there's an alert system that goes off. this is something that gibbs people more time before the official alert, right? >> reporter: well, it's sort of happens simultaneously with official alert but it's something where when an official alert goes off, there's sirens that start blairing here. some don't hear those. inside a build, in a house, if

your car and you've got music on and some people have it on vibrating so they see all of this is going on. whenever there was a siren alarm, i've witnessed a lot of these now every time you go into the shelter after that you hear it going off on almost every phone. there is a very ewill be rate and sophisticated system of warning people here. however, there are people who fall through the roster and there are people who don't get warned. and this is certainly something that can close the loopholes and that's why the israeli government says that it's such an important tool and a key in warning people to get inside as fast as possible. >> fred, there's talk of a cease-fire, the potential of a calming period. you have been there today, are folks reacting to that? do they believe that's even possible? >> reporter: yes. absolutely reacting to that. i was very surprised to find most people are not happy about the possibility of a cease-fire. most people here believe that the military campaign should have continued until it achieved the objectives that the israeli

military had set out and the people here certainly don't believe that at this point that is the case. people that i've spoken to say, how do we know we're not going to get hit by rocket attacks in a few weeks? how do we know this is for real? they're not happy from what i'm gathering. there is that undertone of people saying finally they hope for a period of time will will be calm here an element as well. but from people that i'm speaking to, they don't believe that the job has been done by the israeli military at least from their vantage point. this is a town here that takes rockets even in the best of times, it's not as many as in the time of conflict but certainly are used to having rockets fired on their head, suzanne. >> fred, thank you. it was a historic trip for south east asia for the president but overshadowed by violence in the middle east. we'll look at what was accomplished. ♪

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jessica yellin has details on the decision to send secretary of state hillary clinton to the region. >> reporter: suzanne, white house officials say president obama was working the phones early into the morning talking to egypt's president morsi and israel's prime minister netanyahu until 2:30 a.m. he woke up and pow wowed with secretary clinton, and they decided she should make the trip to the middle east to continue the shuttled diplomacy in person. her first stop, israel for the meeting with prime minister netanyahu. then the next day she'll visit ramallah to talk to mahmoud abbas. the u.s. as you know does not speak to hamas which regards as a terrorist organization. the next day she heads to egypt to me with president morsi. the u.s. is relying on egyptians to work influence with hamas. u.s. officials make it clear they believe the only us in is on hamas to take the first steps towards a truce. >> bottom line remains that

hamas has to stop the rocket fire. they're the ones who are going to have to be a part of a solution that ends the type of terror that israeli citizens have faced over so many months with this barrage of rockets coming into israeli territory. >> reporter: the same u.s. official said the president believes israel has the right to choose how it will defend itself. but also made clear, he believes there are high costs to israel with the ground invasion. the goal is a diplomatic solution. so for clinton the goal would be a temporary cease-fire creating the time to find a negotiated long-term peace agreement. that would be good for the region but also on a more personal note, for clinton who said she would leave at the end of the first term a nice way to wrap up her tenure as secretary of state. to jerusalem. this is where we see u.n. secretary ban ki-moon with israel's prime minister shimon peres speaking now. let's listen in.

>> filed between 7:00 and 8:00 in the morning around 35 every day, 35 missiles and their aim to the children on the way to the school. then they start again between 1:00 and 2:00 in the afternoon when another 35 rockets a day are fired to the children upon their return from school. you know they must have good in their heart. there is no member in the united nations, no in the united nations itself, not according to the united nations itself, that can allow 1300 rockets to be aimed at civilians, mothers, children. by the way it leads to nowhere. it's painful but we shall meet

it completely. leaders of the world should insist hamas top fire. they must make clear the terror is unacceptable by any member of the united nations. our strength is aimed to defending just our civilian life. we would prefer this to happen by talking, without shooting. otherwise, we shall have to do whatever we can to make israel safe for everybody. we're a nation that seeks peace and agreed to the two-state solution. this is our policy. this was, this remains, and is

our proposal to face the future, to face the future. hamas, that is the problem, reject completely this proposal. they reject completely negotiations, and they reject completely to recognize the right of toisrael to exist. and peace can be attained only through negotiations. the middle east is going now through a transitional period. it is up to all of us to decide whether it will end up by peace for all by security for all or tragedy for the many. it's inseparable. we have just differences.

we should held them out lightly and peacefully. we appreciate the constructive effort of egypt and constructive effort of the president of egypt. it was for us a pleasant surprise and i hope he will continue his task, which is necessary for all parts of the middle east. i must also say we are not surprised that iran is pushing the other direction. they are continuing to supply long-range missiles and urge hamas to fire them against cities and settlements in israel. >> listening to the israeli president shimon peres talking about the continues of the cease-fire saying that negotiations must continue, also

talking about the rockets that have been launched into israel from gaza and saying that they need to talk, they need to put their weapons down. we also know that secretary of state hillary clinton is on her way to the region to meet with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu. she goes on to me with the president of the palestinian authority mahmoud abbas, and finally on to cairo, meeting with the president of egypt all of them critical players in negotiating some sort of cease-fire and eventually the idea would be middle east peace. more on the breaking news story of the after a break.

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one reality of the conflict is impact on children. they don't feel safe, even if they appear to be out of harm's way. check this out. israel set up safety zones in an area, you see on the right that are the farrest from gaza out of reach of the rockets launched by

hamas. take a look at video, family members took these children away from the bombed areas in the south but still feel a sense of threat. we'll have more on this crisis after this. i am probably going to the gas station about once a month. last time i was at a gas station was about...i would say... two months ago. i very rarely put gas in my chevy volt. i go to the gas station such a small amount that i forget how to put gas in my car. [ male announcer ] and it's not just these owners giving the volt high praise. volt received the j.d. power and associates appeal award two years in a row. ♪

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israel and hamas apparently about to stop, at least for now, that's the hope. the two sides do not have a cease-fire agreement but a hamas official tells cnn they have agreed to what is described as a calming down period. it is going to happen one hour from now, at least that announcement we understand. anderson cooper is joining us live from jerusalem. what do we know about this deal? >> reporter: well, as you say, all we know is that a senior hamas official is telling cnn there will be an announcement of a calming down in one hour from now, exactly what that means, though, is unclear. we're also hearing from israel that they have not agreed to any cease-fire at this point but have expressed a desire to have some period of calm for 24 hours before any agreement is actually made. i can tell you, we just saw rockets launched from gaza city a short time ago probably within

the last ten minutes or so you hear an explosion right now. also in gaza city. so, while there's still this talk of announcement made one hour from now, we're seeing this back and forth. we've also gotten word, our sara sidner, well, we're still trying to work on exactly what this information on this deal will mean. again, supposed to be one hour from now. as i said back and forth is continuing here. earlier in the day we saw disturbing scene. we have a picture of it. we saw a couple of men on motorcycles dragging the body of a man through a main street in gaza city yelling god is great and yelling that he was a collaborator spy working for israel. there had been a report from local media six people had been executed alleged to be collaborators for israel. we assume the body was one of those people. just a sign of how hardened positions here and how high

tensions are now. >> anderson we saw that very disturbing picture that photo there. can you give us a sense of how people are reacting to this potential cease-fire? i know as we are on air you turn around and you keep hearing explosions. what is taking place there? >> reporter: yeah, they're continuing to be -- we heard two more explosions off in the distance. sounded like incoming. usually distinctive sound, different than outgoing rockets. i think people are hopeful that some sort of cease-fire could be announced. but i think the devil's in details and people are waiting to see what exactly this announcement does entail. there's often a lot of rumors and speculation about something like this and as i said cnn is told by senior hamas official there will be a cooling down period announced but again, the parameters of it and how it actual actually plays out on the ground is critical.

>> when people see that kind of scene that you saw on street there, that man dragged through, the body dragged through, how do they cope with that? how do they deal? what are they experiencing? i think we lost anderson. can you hear me? we lost anderson. we'll try get him back. announcement the attacks between hamas and israel to stop, it comes as secretary of state hillary clinton is heading to the region, due to arrive in jerusalem in a couple of hours. later she's going to ramallah and then cairo. i want to bring in jill dougherty. you got out of a briefing. you have some news? >> the briefing is still going on. i can tell you, i was asking victoria newman what realistically can the secretary do, what can he accomplish. and essentially she's laying out

a two-step formula. one simply start with the deescalation, that of course is what u.s. officials have been saying all along. the firing from rockets from gaza has to stop by hamas and also everyone stops firing. and also, then she said that creates a space for broader issues, and those as we know, could be the blockade on gaza and others, because after all, it's almost like a catch-22. you can see that certainly on the part of hamas, they say they don't want to lay down any type of weapons until some other questions are addressed. and then also i asked victoria newland why did the secretary really have to go, why was it so important? i don't know whether we have that sound, maybe somebody can tell me. if not i can say what she said. >> we don't have it, jill. go ahead. >> what she said was, it is

important, as secretary clinton often says, to show up, to be there in person, to sit down with people, and that is what president obama believed, according to victoria newland, a lot of phone calls back and forth, both by the president and by secretary clinton. but to be there in person, they thought, was very important. so we'll see whether that presence will shift something or not. >> so it makes sense to me, jill, she's meeting with the israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu and also meeting with the presidents of egypt, mohamed morsi. what is pler perplexing she's meeting with the president of the palestinian authority, abbas, who doesn't have anything to do with hamas and has very little negotiating power here. is that just a symbolic gesture? >> well, he is the head of the palestinians, even though gaza de facto controls, of course --

sorry, hamas controls gaza and you can say in this case he's been almost not playing any role particularly at all but he is the person that the united states, the palestinian authority, that the united states has relations with and so they really have to talk with him. but egypt is the key part and she'll be going to cairo, as you mentioned in dealing with hamas. they are the people who have hopefully, have some type of influence with hamas and can bring some type of cease-fire, quiet, calm, whatever, about. >> jill dougherty at the state department, thank you. what we're working on for this hour -- >> warplanes, drones, and air strikes. it's day seven of the conflict between hamas and israel. is secretary of state hillary clinton key to diffusing the situation? a closer look at the region. and thousands of people could be out of work if hostess

closes up shop. but in the 11th hour a judge tells themaker of twinkies and the union to try 0 again to reach a deal that could save those jobs. and speaking of getting along, will the president and congress find common ground to avoid going off the fiscal cliff? what you need to know about expiring tax breaks. this is "cnn newsroom" and it's happening now. jen's car wasn't handling well.

so i brought it to mike at meineke. we gave her car a free road handling check. i like free. free is good. my money. my choice. my meineke. according to a hamas official an agreement for calm will be declared within an hour or so. and then it's posed to take effect three hours after that. it's going to give secretary of state hillary clinton time to arrive in the region. she's due to arrive in jerusalem two hours from now. later she's going on to ramallah and then cairo for critical talks. want to bring in author of "obama and the middle east end of america's moment" professor as well. what kind of lieverage does secretary clinton have not only in negotiating a cease-fire but something long term, permanent? >> i think she has a great,

tremendous potential and in particular, vis-a-vis i mean israeli prime minister netanyahu, i think her arrival is a clear sign that the united states is trying to prevent escalation, prevent a ground invasion of gaza. remember, suzanne, an israeli ground invasion of gaza would have severe consequences, not just on israeli palestinian relations but also on israel's relations with its neighbors, particularly egypt, turkey and americans' interests in the wider middle east. that's why i believe that president barack obama has asked the secretary to go to there and try to broker or finalize a cease-fire between the palestinians and israelis using egypt as a conduit. egypt is most pivotal state in the particular game of diplomacy now. >> explain the role of egypt, because what we know the new president, morsi, has a good relationship and there's alignment with hamas and the

muslim brotherhood and there's a different political situation than you had before when you under -- under mubarak. >> well, you know, egypt is a new country, different country, a particular different world, even though egypt has very close relations with the united states, egypt now has a new vision, a new foreign policy. mohamed morsi, the president of egypt, is a member of the muslim brotherhood. hamas is a cousin of the isl islamist familiar life the muslim brotherhood. hamas listens to morsi. hamas looks up to egypt now at this particular stage and that's why egypt has emerged as the most important state vis-a-vis hamas and gaza. and also keep in mind, suzanne, that egypt also was the first arab state to sign a peace treaty with israel in the late 1970s, the camp david peace agreement, and mohamed morsi has warned if israel invades gaza

this would have serious repercussions on egyptian/israeli relations and that's why the important role of egypt. >> could he take it a step further and influence with hamas and actually convince them to recognize israel, to put down the weapons, so that they could become an organization that the united states would deal with directly and not be labeled as a terrorist group? >> suzanne, you asked me earlier about the visit of secretary of state hillary clinton. i think we need to go onthe cease-fire. the cease-fire should not just postpone the all-out clash, it should not just be pave the way for end of the round. you need to deal with the politicaling structural conditions. first hamas must stop firing rockets against israeli towns and cities. israel must lift the siege of gaza. you have 1.7 million palestinians being punished. you need a political horizon. this is why secretary clinton and the egyptian president, of

course, the leadership president, barack obama, the challenge is will the obama administration along with egypt and israel revive the peace process, provide political vision whereby -- yes? >> let me interrupt here. are you suggesting that secretary or the united states deal with hamas directly, there is some sort of opening where they should be speaking with hamas? >> you know, suzanne, let's me be blunt. i have always been blunt. is there no going around hamas. hamas is here to stay. hamas is the power to be reckoned with. president abbas put all of his eggs in the american basket, the united states has failed to deliver. hamas has come a long way, still has a longer way to travel in terms of accepting the political vision for the peace process. the reality is hamas is entirely different than the hamas that exived in the 1990s and early 2000. it has come almost very close to accepting the political roles of

the united states and european community should begin the process of engagement with hamas. this is the way to go. >> that would be a significant game changer there. thank you very much. want to go back to the united states where the country is now nearing what we are calling the fiscal cliff, roughly 40 days away. taxes go up 90% on us and president and congress, it they don't make a deal, what's going to happen if this actually takes place? we'll find out after a quick break.d nasal [ tissue box ] he said nasal congestion. yeah...i heard him. [ female announcer ] tylenol® cold multi-symptom nighttime relieves nasal congestion. nyquil® cold and flu doesn't. gotcha. covered. whooooh. [ male announcer ] black friday will never be the same. with our 1-hour in-stock guarantee, get here between 10 and 11 and you're guaranteed to get these electronic gifts in time for christmas. the first and only place to go on black friday. walmart.

want to bring in fred pleitgen, news out of israel near the gaza border. fred? what do you got? >> reporter: suzanne, we just had an air alarm now, going off now. we'll get into a safer place. >> please. >> reporter: it literally went off as we got on the air. >> please be safe. we'll -- >> this is the air alarm going off. we'll move to a safer area. still with me? >> i am. please move to a safe area. if you have to disconnect. >> reporter: we're moving inside. come on, guys, let's go. come on. we're almost inside. let's go. we're moving to a safer place.

basically inside this house where we can continue. so this has been going off a lot in the past couple of hours really that we've seen a lot of barrages of rockets fired out of gaza. a couple of minutes before we began our broadcast we had some fired towards the area that we saw intercepted in midair by the iron dome interception system and now the first strike that we've witnessed here since we've gotten back here. we know there have been a few throughout the day. so this was another one of those. i can also say, i was on the hill earlier and saw a lot of rockets fired out of gaza, a lot of them being intercepted. we know beersheba has been hit, outskirts of tel aviv hit. another one of the strikes. some people here on the ground who say they believe that if there's a possible cease-fire, you can see there people are sort of up in arms here about all of this, people here believe or some believe this might be militants in gaza firing off rockets before a possible

cease-fire or period of calm sets in that they want to really hit the gas before that sets in. >> just lost fred. we'll try to get limb back. a lot of commotion there as sirens go off and crews and reporters are actually seeking safety. we'll take a quick break see if we can get back to him. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] everyone deserves the gift of all day pain relief. this season, discover aleve. all day pain relief with just two pills.

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and could save you thousands a year in out-of-pocket costs. call now to request your free decision guide. and learn more about the kinds of plans that will be here for you now -- and down the road. i have a lifetime of experience. so i know how important that is. >> want to guy back to fredd pleitgen. can you hear us? >> reporter: yeah, i can hear you. actually the alarm, the rocket alarm is now over. we can go back outside. we've been given the all-clear but it seems as though several rockets were aiming towards the area. we believe that they probably have been picked off by a missile intercepter system because we didn't hear any impact. and that's usually a sign they've been picked off. i can tell you, over the past couple of days of reporting on this story we've gotten smart and now what we do every time we

do our live shots we do them next to a hardened building you can go into. you don't have much reaction time. israeli government says that usually when rockets fall you have a reaction timing of maybe 15 to up to 50 seconds depending on how far away it is. we're not far from gaza, rockets don't travel very far. so the reaction time isn't very much either. yeah, that was a little bit of a scare. this is what people here go through all the time. >> we saw that bit. can you walk us through that because for those of us who are not there, we have no idea what you're experiencing and what that's like. literally an alarm goes off you have a certain amount of time to get to safety. what actually happened? >> reporter: well, i mean you're absolutely right. people know it's not very much time to get to safety especially people here because keep in mind this is only eight or nine miles away from the gaza border. if a rocket is fired from there it does not travel very long before it impacts here.

people know they have to get to shelter quickly. what happens is the alarms go off, and then you'll see most of the cars on the street stop immediately. people far away from any sort of build willing lay flat on the ground. if the rocket hits in their area they have a chance of not getting hit by shrapnel. you have to get down low otherwise you're in danger of taking shah rap nell. close to a building you go into the building and not stay near windows. go deep into the building as possible. best things cellar room. we're hearing several booms. might be rocket interceptions, a strike in gaza. certainly action going on here. >> fred -- >> reporter: but there's a lot of action going on right now. >> how do you know what to do? it was precise what you said about people hitting the ground and that kind of thing? are people trained to react to this in this way or is this something people have learned over their experience when they hear these and sound these alarms? >> reporter: well, certainly. it's certainly something where people obviously they've been trained to do this.

they get service announcement where they know what they have to do. keep in mine this is a system that has evolved over many years. places have been taking hits for a very long time. people here know first of all to take these alarms seriously. >> fred -- >> reporter: with a strike in a town a couple miles away from here, people believe the folks who heard that didn't take it seriously because they don't usually get rockets. >> i want to play the video here of you earlier and have you walk us through what took place. because this is when we first went to you and it was very clear that you needed to move and move quickly after you heard that alarm. can you describe for us what that moment was like? >> reporter: yeah. basically what happened is that the alarm went off. the alarm literally went off as you were introducing me to the show. so the alarm went off. for us it was clear we had to get out of there as fast as possible. we, before the live report began

identified the place that we would go to if something like that happened. so what we did we took the camera off the tripod, made our way inside as fast as possible and knew we couldn't be near windows. we went deep into the building as possible. best thing to do is get into a cellar room. a lot of the buildings here in the area, especially new, have hardened rooms in them that you can go into. the thing to do is drop everything you're doing, leave your stuff there, don't worry about your phone, don't worry about your bag, just get inside, at fast as possible because that's the safest place. >> how often has this been happening? we've seen it a couple of times live on air. but i mean i imagine that you've been experiencing this over the last couple of days. >> reporter: yeah. i mean, in the past couple of days i would say that i have had something like this happen during a live report on our air about six times and we've witnessed this while not on the air i would say at least 10, 12, 15 times pef wwe've had times w

we have gotten in the direction of mortars. there was rocket fire going on, rockets over us intercepted by the iron dome. many instances where we've had to hit the deck. over the past couple of days it's been pretty tough. you can imagine how it is, for instance, in you're a family with a child and you have to deal with this constantly. certainly, yeah, it is something that's very real, it not something out of the ordinary for the people here and it's certainly something that they have to find some routine to try to live with. >> i can only imagine how difficult that must be. please be safe. take care of yourself as well as the crew there. thank you, as always, for the excellent reporting that you do. more after the break.

oh, let me guess --ou see this? more washington gridlock. no, it's worse -- look, our taxes are about to go up. not the taxes on our dividends though, right? that's a big part of our retirement. oh, no, it's dividends, too. the rate on our dividends would more than double. but we depend on our dividends to help pay our bills. we worked hard to save. well, the president and congress have got to work together to stop this dividend tax hike. before it's too late.

the white house and congressional leaders have 42 days left to come up with a deal to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff. if they can't agree, all taxes go up, massive across the board

spending cuts, automatically will go into effect. after a meeting with president obama friday, congressional leaders sounded like they would have a dealing optimistic. take a listen. a constructive meeting with the president to talk about the america's fiscal problem. >> we all know something has to be done. >> it was good. i feel confident that a solution may be in sight. >> we're prepared to put revenue on the table, provided we fix the real problem. >> all right. joining us to talk to about the fiscal cliff what it could mean for the economy if it plunges over the cliff, mark zandi. mark explain to us, there's a lot of optimism here. but what would happen if they didn't come up with an agreement? what would be the impact of the economy immediately? >> well, you know, i don't think it's a wily coyote moment. january 1 the economy would be

okay. with each passing day we don't get a deal, angst would rise, stock market would decline. fiscal cliff is the wrong word it's a fiscal slope, it's going to take some time before it starts to do damage. it's not like on january 1st that things are going to fall apart. it's going to take a few days, weeks before that were to happen. but if they don't reach an agreement, ultimately they fail to reach an agreement it would be a big problem. we'd go into recession. >> and when you talk about recession, how do you define that? groups think unemployment rate could hit almost 10%. >> yeah, that's reasonable. so, if you look at the congressional budget office, this is the nonpartisan group that does a lot of the budget, forecasting they say if we go over the fiscal cliff and stay there, there is no agreement, the economy would suffer a recession, such that unemployment would get back into the double digits. of course, that probably understates the case because the world is going to be much more

difficult to navigate through if we go back foo recession because confidence is weak and the federal reserve really has fewer options here, can't lower interest rates because they're at zero. the world would probably look darker than that, unemployment well into double digits. we characterize it as another depression as opposed to recession so we don't want that to happen. >> the main sticking point is taxes. revenue has to be on the table but the president calling for a tax increase on the wealthiest americans. >> what i'm not going to do is to extend further a tax cut for folks who don't need it which would cost close to a trillion dollars. >> there are ways to put revenue on the table without increasing tax rates. we've talked about this now for over a year. >> so how do you get beyond that? i mean they've been talking about it for a year, taxes versus revenue divide. where is the room here?

>> well, we'll get more tax revenue, it's probably a combination of higher tax rates on upper income households. the president ran on this and explicit about it and won re-election, and therefore i think it's highly likely that we'll see higher marginal rates on folks that make over $250,000 on a household basis. i also think we'll get tax reform and that's what speaker boehner's talking. that is scaling back the deductions and credits in the tax code for higher income households and that would generate revenue and the combination of two things would i think get us to a place where we need to go where we generate revenue. at the end of the day if we solve the fiscal problems long run we need not only more tax revenue we also need more spending cuts and fair share of that has to come from reforms of the medicare and social security system. so, we have to do all of the above i think that's what we're working towards. >> all right. mark zandi, thank youcjç very m. hope that we get that resolved

before january. appreciate it. gaza, of course, one of the most densely populated areas in the world. neighbor to israel and egypt. territory home to palestinians and hamas. the violence there could spread throughout the middle east. we'll take a closer look at gaza as well as the region. they've been committed to putting clients first. helping generations through tough times. good times. never taking a bailout. there when you need them. helping millions of americans over the centuries. the strength of a global financial leader. the heart of a one-to-one relationship. together for your future. ♪ (child screaming underwater)... (underwater noises).

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a little less imperfect. call... and lock in your rate for 12 months. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? deadly attacks between israel and hamas apparently are going to stop, at least for now, that according to some officials. hamas official telling cnn they have agreed to what they're describing as a calming down period. they sagoing to make that announcement 30 minutes from now. want to take a closer look at this region, what this means to the folk there's as well as outside. josh levs will walk us through it. >> a lot to look at here. looking at surrounding region and the way that these countries can be impacted by what is happening. take a look here, start off zooming in into-to-egypt. understand that some things about egypt in the way that it's playing out in what has become

for many people in the area a crisis. we'll have a photo pop up here and that is of tunnels that are at -- whereby gaza meets egypt. this is something we've been doing a lot of reporting on. also video of it. take a look. egypt has been working to crack down on militants in that area, in the sinai, who have been part, in some cases of the smuggling operation. in doing that, has meant cooperating with israel on intelligence. but that, for egypt, is very tricky. the last thing egypt wants to come across supporting israel. the new government led by president mohamed morsi is openly supportive of palestinians in gaza. hamas' political leader has a news conference in i can propose morsi comes from the muslim brotherhood and hamas, people don't realize, is an offshoot of the muslim brotherhood. short version on egypt that is egypt would benefit from increased peace and stability, actual peace and stability in

gaza but the government right now could lose support if it seems in any way consolatory to israel at a time of the brand new government. we'll continue this video. bring you up and over to jordan. one of the friendlier governments in the region to israel over all but there's something happening in jordan in recent weeks that's important to understand. there have been protests and in some cases clashes by jordanians upset over the economy and particularly gas prices. some have taken an unusual step of even chanting against the king, king abdullah, he's looking to cement support and calm things. if anger grows, it could foment more unrest inside jordan and that is a concern for that government as well. suzanne, conflict here between israel and militants in gaza can further the instability in the surrounding nations. >> and josh, take us to the north. lebanon and syria playing

critical roles as well? >> absolutely. let's touch on these. zoom in the video up to lebanon. lebanon has a long history of racked by violence. recently there was an intelligence chief killed in a bombing inside lebanon. also one more thing that you should understand when you think about lebanon and that is the role of hezbollah. i believe we have video of hezbollah here. always a power strug inside lebanon involving hezbollah and the united states and other countries consider a terrorist organization. it's fiercely opposed to israel, any conflict between israel and palestinians can further the instability inside lebanon. finally, maybe last thing what we're talking about here, absolutely not the least, zoom to the east in this map, we're going over to syria which has been one of the biggest stories in the world since march of last year. there's a war raging there. and the opposition has been giving new figures lately about this war. the opposition has been saying that now as many as up to 40,000

people, getting close 40,000 people, killed in the fighting in that region. about so again, this is the kind of thing that tony blair, the middle east envoy for the middle east quartet is saying could cause more upheaval throughout the region if we see this continue between israel and militants in gaza with no solution in sight. he said it can cause more up heavele in a region that absolutely does not at this time need any more upheaval at all. there's a lot more to get on this at cnn.com. suzanne, as we hear what's coming up now, potential announcements, possible announcements of a halt to violence. all of those is something not just the world but the surrounding nations are watching very closely and in many cases very hopeful will happen. >> josh, thanks very much. if you want more, go to your site. after seven days of rockets, they are now potentially close

to a truce. is a cease-fire going to hold? we will monitor throughout the day. also looking at this. what do henry wrinkler and fred thompson have in common? they both appear in commercials for reverse mortgages. we'll show you how reverse mortgages work. first the help desk answers questions about paying for college. >> hi there. on the help desk, saving for college. with me greg olson and carmen wong ul rig. carmen? >> i have a 4-year-old and 6-month-old wonder wag long term and short-term investments to make for college funds. >> how do we start saving early. >> you have to save early. key is where are you saving? what are you putting it? you want the tax advantages of a 529. he's got two kids. if one kid doesn't use it all up for education the other one can use it. grandparents, family members, holidays are coming, put money in there. also where that is going? when you shop for 529 go to

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if you're born between 1946 and 1964 you're one of more than a million, 80 million americans who and officially call themselves baby boomers. all this week telling store dwl stories that affect the generation. boomer finances, sounds like a deal for baby boomers who need cash, borrow money against the value of your home, reverse mortgage. we've seen celebrity ads on tv. >> retirement your way. that's a pretty big promise. but if you're a homeowner 62 or older, one reverse mortgage can give you the retirement you deserve. >> if you're 62 years or older and own your own home, join hundreds of thousands of other americans who have used a reverse mortgage as a safe, effective, financial tool. >> all right. some reverse mortgages are

putting people actualfully financial ruin. alison kosik is joining us to talk about how this breaks down. how does a reverse mortgage how does a reverse mortgage work, first of all? it is complex is that instead offhavi o of you having to pay the bank, the bank pays you. you own your house. what you can do is squeeze the equity out of your house, basically using your house as an atm, and basically hand it back over to the bank, telling them you want to take out, let's say $100,000 of equity and turn it into a stream of cash, and then you stay in your house. you have to qualify. your home has to be paid off or close to it and you have to be 62 years old. that's where these advertisements you showed, they end because there is a ton of fine print after that. >> go through some of the fine print here. first of all, do you have to pay back the -- pay the money back? >> that's a good point you make that is the biggest misconception about reverse mortgages. you do have to pay it back. it is a loan. a loan means you have to pay it

back. remember the 70-year-old tapping the $100,000 in equity? that money has to be paid back and it costs much more than that because there are loan insurance fees, and service fees and these come every month and the interest. this is really the biggie this is what people don't get. the interest, it compounds over time. it piles up, just like an unpaid credit card. we put together this picture for you to give you an idea of how big it gets. when you go into a reverse mortgage, you own the house, see the equity in the blue on the left side there, there is a lot there. you owe only a tiny amount of interest. you see the small red area in the same bar, look what happens after ten years, to the side there. your equity drops because you're getting payments from the bank, but the interest builds up and it is all due at the end. the $100,000 plus interest and if you die, your heirs are responsible for paying it off. >> of the drawbacks, why do folks do it? is there any benefit here? >> there is. this is why people don't do it

oftentimes because it is confusing and it is for older americans, but some people get the reverse mortgages because what they can do is tap their home equity and still stay in their house, but the government says this should really be a last resort. there are other options for that. you can get a home equity line of credit, you can downsize to a smaller house or rent or you can refinance. if you do decide on a reverse mortgage, you may want to check out the reverse mortgage guide and talk to a mortgage counselor and find one on hud.gov. suzanne. >> alison, thanks. we appreciate it. tomorrow we bring you when type a baby boomers retire, they don't stop being high energy and impatient. we'll talk with wendy walsh with how they can cope with the new stage in their live. thousands of people could be out of work if hostess closes shop. in the 11th hour, the maker of twinkies and the union are at the table trying to reach a deal. [ abdul-rashid ] i've been working since i was about 16.

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right now in new york, negotiators are behind closed doors, trying to find a way to save more than 18,000 jobs in n 82-year-old american brand. hostess brand said friday it was shutting down for good and liquidating the company. since then, grocery stores have experienced a run on twinkies and other popular hostess products. check it out. >> so i got zingers and cupcakes and hohos and everything else left over. >> what did you stock up on? >> a little bit of everything for the kids. some chocolate twinkies, the scary cakes, mini muffins, some cinnamon bread, that kind of stuff. >> renee marsh joins us.

i won't be stocking up on twinkies or any of that stuff, but there is a serious side to this story. this company says that they're in bankruptcy court yesterday, the judge tells them, look, go back and work out a deal with the striking union workers. where are they at this hour? >> that was really an unexpected move here. no one was really expecting that in the final hour, the judge saying, you know, they want both parties to get together again in this last ditch effort to compromise. and really essentially save those more than 18,000 jobs that we're talking about here. so now they're in this meeting, will they walk out of this meeting with a deal? i hate to speculate, but i will say this, both sides, they have been disputing issues like wages and concessions for quite some time now. so we're talking about one more afternoon where they're getting together to try and hash things out that simply may not be enough time for them to settle their differences. that being said, if they walk out of that meeting today

without any deal made, that means they are back in court tomorrow, that liquidation process continues and we should point out that hostess is seeking permission to pay its senior management some $1.7 million in bonuses during that liquidation. suzanne? >> if hostess goes bankrupt and liquidates, does it mean the end of the twinkie and wonder bread and these other kind of products? >> well, not necessarily. here's why i say that. because there are several companies out there who are very interested in the twinkie brand. let's face it, the twinkie brand still has some value to it. you just saw the video there, people stocking up on hohos and twinkies. i went looking for twinkies myself and couldn't find one. there is value to the brand here. there are companies who are interested. one of those companies is sun capital partners. now, they have said they have some interest in taking over the brand and they have also said

that if they did take over twinkie, they would reopen hostess factories, they would keep hostess workers and the unions, those other companies who say they have an interest, they may do things slightly different, which may not include keeping those hostess workers. suzanne? >> all right, renee, thank you. appreciate it. the man who was a long time voice of elmo has resigned from sesame street. a man accused kevin clash of an underaged sexual relationship but later recanted. but the allegation led to a clash coming out as a gay man, something he says he never tried to hide. in a statement, sesame workshop says unfortunately the controversy surrounding kevin's personal life has become a distraction that none of us wants. and he has concluded that he can no longer be effective in his job and has resigned from sesame street. this is a sad day for sesame street. that statement coming out. "cnn newsroom" continues now with deb feyerick. hey, deb. >> thanks so much. we havt